Why Democrats dumped gun control
Monday's shooting at Virginia Tech is a reminder that the party that once championed gun control has been running away from it since the 2000 election.

"Today, a substantial portion of the party's new standard-bearers are pro-gun, or at least anti-gun control. Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who now heads the Democratic National Committee and is the favorite of the new party power base emerging from the Internet, has long been an opponent of gun control. So has Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., the man whose squeaker victory in November gave Democrats control of the Senate and who was selected to give the party's response to President Bush's State of the Union address this year. Last month, one of Webb's aides was arrested on his way in to a Senate building with one of Webb's guns in his possession. Webb responded with a spirited defense of his right and need to bear arms. Even Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the new Senate majority leader, is pro-gun. "

"A survey done by Americans for Gun Safety has shown that 54 percent of union households own a gun."

The National Rifle Association, by far the most powerful pro-gun lobby in the country, spends massive amounts of money to protect the right to bear arms, donating cash to candidates and political action committees. While Republicans receive the majority of the organizations endorsements and money, over the last 10 years, the NRA has dramatically increased funding for Democratic candidates.

âI think finally the message hit home that itâs bad politics to be on the wrong side of the 2nd amendment at election time and I think you see that reflective in whatâs been happening on this issue amongst Democrats in Washington, DC and state legislatures around the country.â said Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association.

âGun ownership in the country amid labor unions folks runs from a low of 48% in California to a high of 60, 70, 80% in states like Missouri, Tennessee, West Virginia. In the 2000 election, half of those union members had a firearm in their home voted for George Bush over Al Gore based on the gun issue and that cost Al Gore the presidency.â

Last week, 27 Senate Democrats joined Republicans to pass an amendment that allows concealed weapons in national parks.

This week, the Senate could take the first step toward overturning a gun control bill passed by their own Democratic brethren more than a decade ago.

After a soul-searching exile, the Democratic Party that regained control of both Congress and the White House in the past two election cycles is proving in many ways to be a distinctly different breed than the one that last ruled the capital.

Nowhere has that transformation become more evident than on the issue of gun control, which was promoted by Democrats in 1992 to attract suburban voters and abandoned by Democrats in 2008 to gain support among rural voters.

The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is expected on Thursday to advance the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act, which is being co-sponsored by Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.).

The legislation would overturn a section of the law that prohibits veterans who are unable to manage their finances from obtaining a firearm. The bill maintains a 1990s gun restriction on veterans found to be a danger to themselves and others.

Asked about the legislation, Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, sighed. âI donât understand why itâs needed,â Helmke said, adding that thereâs an appeals process for veterans who feel they have been unfairly denied guns.

âThe Supreme Court has said, yes, there are rights, there are gun rights. The Supreme Court has also said there are responsibilities. This bill goes beyond gun rights and overlooks responsibilities,â he added.

Several political forces are driving the Democratic gun control conversion.

The most obvious one is that gun control turned out to be a losing issue for dozens of Democrats.

Republicans gained 54 House seats in 1994, in part because of voter backlash at the passing of an assault weapons ban and other gun measures.

A major force behind those victories was the National Rifle Association, an organization that has ebbed from the headlines but still holds considerable political influence.

âThe NRA and its allies have succeeded in making the slippery slope argument stick,â said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky. âAny form of gun control is a step in the direction of outlawing guns. People have heard that for so many years, itâs become a very hard thing for Democrats to go against.â

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said simply: âOur job is to monitor them and make sure they vote the right way.â

More broadly, allegiance to gun control was constraining the partyâs efforts to claw back on top.

Even if the Democrats could win all the House seats in the urban areas and liberal enclaves, it wouldnât be enough for a majority. The party had to find a way to accommodate conservatives, and it aggressively did so in the past two cycles.

Now, âthere are a lot of Democrats, primarily from rural states, for whom the Second Amendment is an article of faith,â Cross said.

Finally, party leaders realized the issue shouldnât be narrowly viewed as a regional concern â or even a strictly conservative one. Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean is a pro-gun liberal; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a pro-gun moderate. [/B]